Oktoberfest: mythical … but not unique!

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It’s Oktober fest time, one of the events to mark on the calendar for friends and apostles of Gambrinus!
As you can easily find on the net, the Oktoberfest dates back to 1810, to celebrate the wedding of Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen.

Over the years this event has evolved into the inevitable carnival that we all know. An event where you can taste typical Bavarian beer: only the six traditional breweries of Monaco can serve beer at the Oktoberfest tents. The type of official beer served is called Märzen, the last cold beer to be drunk before the autumn. The risk sometimes is to find the beer a little watered down, because it’s not always so easy to cope with the large number of visitors, attracted by the festive atmosphere, the beer and the good Bavarian food: a wedding party which has been going on for over two hundred years!

brass-band-501685-customIt’s easy to see many of our compatriots at this party, and while thinking about this, I came up with a reflection I’m glad to share with you: but are there no brewing festival of this level in Italy? Probably not, but there are many great events that, from my modest and humble point of view, are too little publicized.
Many events that have very little to do with brewing are often referred to as “beer festivals”, therefore there are high expectations which are confronted with stalls offering beers available everywhere and this creates a sort of skepticism by part of the people.
Fortunately, however, in recent years there has been an increase in events offering craft beers and food stalls to accompany tastings (could we miss a dish that can be paired with beer? Or a nice sausage sandwich??? Never!!!). If you try to look for them, I can assure you’ll find many, my advice is to look for events where the protagonist is the nectar of Gambrinus, especially craft beers, looking even for those events that tell you, if not about the beer, at least about the brewery which offers beer to be tasted. And of course, go and experiment! With the knowledge that there might not be buxom blondes to serve us, that perhaps we’ll miss the band of Bavarian musicians with chubby flushed cheeks, but that we’re going to taste a genuine local product that could satisfy our tastes!

Peace and Beer!

Niccolo Maggini

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